| Destroyer – Rereading The Marble Faun Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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The Marble Faun is a moral tale by Nathaniel Hawthorne. There are four Characters, two of them female: Hilda and Miriam. I think this tries to use The Marble Faun as a metaphor for the narrators view of his ex-girlfriend. the two female characters are opposites. Hilda is compared to the virgin mary, morally pure, but also annoyingly naive. Despised by critics because of her disregard for history and knowledge along with unwavering condemnation and hypocrisy. Miriam is quite different. She is darker and seen by the narrator as an immoral woman, but decidedly passionate and human. She idealizes characters like Salome and is sexually liberated and impulsive. Bejar seems to be conflicted in which type of woman he is comparing with his ex-lover. At the beginning "the blonde in you responded to" suggests a naivety. The second verse ties her to the Jesuits (formed when the iberian peninsula was united, Iberia, after it was taken back from The Islamic Almohad) suggests a religious piety coinciding with Hilda's religious affectation. Coupled with the biting comments suggested in the chorus, like Hilda's quickness to denounce immoral actions, shows Bejar is comparing his ex to Hilda. The most interesting is the conflict between the women. Hilda denounces her friendship with Miriam, who is involved in an accidental murder, and Hilda thinks she must cast off Miriam to retain her lofty morality. Miriam replies that she is an angel among men and women, inhuman, and that she needs a sin to soften her. I think this moral dilemma is at the heart of the way Bejar thinks of his ex. Once a complete person, and then casts off her passion and humanity in favor of a rigid prudishness. "I just finished the book, and some of its true," may refer to the fact that the narrator is heavily slanted towards Hilda's piety. Ultimately I think this song is about the duality of woman. I LOVE THIS SONG! |
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